CAN SOUTH KOREA’S NEW LEADER BRING CHANGE TO THE PENINSULA?

Moon Jae-in enters the South Korean presidency amid a tough economy and a political scandal of the highest degree in his country. However, the main focus of his campaign was relations with North Korea…

In 1976, when he was serving in South Korea’s special forces (all Korean men serve in the military for two years), two American soldiers set out to trim a tree. The tree was located in the Korean demilitarized zone and had grown branches that obscured the line of sight between the two sides. Both sides agreed that pruning action was needed, and the Americans set out with axes in hand. North Korea sent soldiers to the tree, but not to help. The soldiers murdered the Americans with their own axes. The commander of the U.N. forces in South Korea ordered a small battalion of South Korean soldiers to cut down the entire tree, in a symbolic act of strength.